Saturday, December 3, 2011

He's cheap. She's thrifty. My boss is stingy.

Today, we're going to talk about the differences between these three similar adjectives:

thrifty

This has a POSITIVE meaning. It means that someone is good at economizing money (economize in Japanese is:
節約 - せつやく).

When I was a kid, my parents were quite thrifty.

You need to be more thrifty! Stop wasting your money.

stingy

This has a NEGATIVE meaning. It is similar to the Japanese,
けち.

Jim's a stingy jerk. He wouldn't even lend me 5$ when I forgot my wallet!

Stop being so stingy! Give me a bite of your cookie!


cheap

This can have a positive or negative meaning. When talking about a person it is usually negative:

John's so cheap!

When talking about a thing or place it can be POSITIVE or NEGATIVE.

Sukiya's cheap but tasty. (positive)

You should try the lunch special, it's pretty cheap. (positive)

Do you like my jacket? It's Chanel but I got it cheap because it was on sale! (positive)

A: What the?! My tablet broke!

B: Well, what do you expect for 60$. It was cheaply made. (negative)

A: Yeah, you're right. you get what you pay for.

You shouldn't buy cheap medicine, it's dangerous. (negative)

Have a nice weekend!

Phil

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

what about cheapskate, is it negative, neutral, or positive?

Phil said...

A cheapskate is a noun and it is REALLY negative. If someone calls you a cheapskate you should be insulted and angry~!